Koliwadas - Question of Cities

Community Chronicles
Right to the City
Urban Planning

For sustainable cities, begin by ‘seeing’ the unseen people in them

When people migrate to cities to make a living, they join the deprived urban classes in living a life of bare existence in hostile or inhospitable settings that are characteristic of large cities. Together, this large swathe of urban population…

Community Chronicles
Right to the City
Urban Planning

Mumbai’s Kolis are living on the edge on their own turf

The Kolis, earliest inhabitants of the city when it was still an archipelago, have shaped the city. They helped landfill the sea waters between the islands and make the seven islands into a city. However, as the juggernaut of urbanisation…

Community Chronicles
Right to the City
Urban Planning

Mumbai’s shiny new Coastal Road spells doom for the city’s Kolis

Lives and livelihoods of the oldest inhabitants of Mumbai, the Kolis, have been drastically affected ever since the Coastal Road construction began. The ongoing infrastructural work has not only altered the familiar coastline of the city but also the way…